Geograph - photograph every grid square

Located at the former old Downshire Hospital estate, the new facility is now home to Down District Council and the Northern Ireland Housing Executive; as well as the area headquarters of the Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Service and the new divisional headquarters of the PSNI (The Police Service of Northern Ireland). Much of the rest of the buildings on the estate are owned by The South Eastern Health and Social Care Trust from where it delivers patient and administrative services. Centralising all these public services in one location is designed to create efficiencies of scale and joint location.
The grand buildings on the Downshire Estate had for almost a century housed one of the biggest mental institutions in Northern Ireland. The Downshire Mental Hospital was for decades the biggest employer in Downpatrick. The abolition of large mental asylum in the second half of the 20thC saw the closure of the Downshire Mental Hospital
Link